The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Beekissed]

I'm culling ruthlessly, that's for sure. Out of the 28 hatched this year, I can spot right off hand maybe 5 that MAY be kept for possible breeding, IF they continue to grow into the shapes I'm starting to see right now....but a few are iffy. I'll be lucky to get at least 2 good Ks and maybe 2 good looking pullets from this year's breeding. Which is more than I expected this year, so I'm feeling fortunate to even have these few, especially the Ks. Won't know for sure about any of those until I see them in maturity.

 

[Fentress]

I hatched over a dozen last year and none of them look as bad as some of the ones I hatched this year. I wish I had punched the females last year, that way I could sort the lines back out and start over on a better foot. I might be able to learn what they look like, especially with a little help from Jamie. The males have distinct differences that are easy to notice. Your right Fred, I still have some very good DNA. Moving forward, I just don't have the pens for a lot of single mating, although I have been thinking of ways to do it on a limited basis, like pulling a hen from a pen and putting her in a chicken tractor for a few days. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Everything thing I build, almost, for infrastructure, is used in a multiple of ways. KISS again. A space is a space, is a space. Juveniles? fine. Breeder pen? fine. Male jail? fine. During March's breeding season, I don't have juveniles. So the same space (tractor, cage, pen, etc) may serve 3 different purposes over the year.

I also believe that I'd rather have a top male, alternating conjugal visitations between two hen pens. I know the sire. Check. I know when I collect eggs to have a pencil with me. Check. Making things simple is too important to an older gent such as myself. I dislike "complicated" the older I get. A trio, well managed, can crank out 50 chicks in a flash. 60 days tops. Swap the cockbird and another 30 chicks from the junior varsity quarterback. Come mid-May, you wrap it all up. Done. It is amazing how many chicks you can hatch out of a small, select number of breeders.

 

[Fred's Hens]

So, two hen pens. One Alpha breeding male over them for 30 days. Me? I'd hatch the two egg clutches in two different hatchers, or use another device to keep your hatched chicks seperate and ID them properly. You will always know who the sire was and who the dame was on every last one of those birds. That's the point. If a certain matchup of Cockbird Alpha and hen (Blue band #4) produces far too many goofy birds, quit that matchup and back track to unring that bell.

If, conversely, Beta cockbird over that same Blue #4 hen produces birds free of that defect, you're care in mating carefully and recording and tracking birds carefully will produce dividends galore.

I have found that the dame is often grossly underrated in what she contributes with far too much concern given to the male. Just knowing the sire isn't enough. Knowing who the dame was is absolutely vital. Not just to know for certain where the defect came from, but hopefully? Where did THAT outstanding bird come from? What mating made THAT gorgeous bird over there?

 

[Fentress]

Thanks for your response Fred. It reinforces what I have read here before. I guess I am a little hard headed and needed to find out for myself. I was hoping that by getting a good line, that they would not be so finely tuned and I could cut some corners. My heart is first and foremost with keeping a flock of chickens on fresh grass. Trying to marry that with focused breeding will continue to take time and quite frankly require some compromises on my part. A small permanent structure hooked up to power and water, used on a seasonal basis, would help.

 

[chicken pickin]

My birds are now just over 15 weeks, growing so well. Many of them I look at and think "man you look good" and others I look at and think "eh maybe you need more time" I know I eventually need to start culling down. My train of thought currently is on the males I have, the pullets I can hold on to over winter if needed and rehome the culls as egg layers later. Unfortunately the poultry processor we use has scheduled their last day to process chickens on Oct 10 and I am now scheduled on that day for all my extra males. That puts my BPRs at 21weeks of age come cull day, I do know that it is a bit too early to make a decision to cull and I know more time is needed because from all I have read males can take a long time to mature and turn into a great looking male once they are older.

Until then because I have just over 5 weeks time to keep watching them. What are some obvious cull points that I should notice at this age to mark them as possible culls and what are the main good things that I should be seeing at this point to know I have a potential keeper. I know this is a big question and I know the answer should be, be patient and wait. But I would like to start narrowing it down a little some what soon so I can send a few males to the freezer before Fall hits. Ideally I would like to try to narrow it down to the best 2 males but I don't mind keeping a few extra males over winter to give them more time to mature if needed, I do know that time is key. I would however like to start making a cull list, even just for a few.

I have been keeping my eye on a few males

Here are six of the males that I was able to get some pics of, I wasn't able to get the three others. Thoughts are welcome and appreciated ( the pics are a little terrible in the way they are posed, I can get better pics from better angles if that is needed)

Male #20





Male #15





male #19




male # 17




male# 14




male 21

 

[Fred's Hens]

21 weeks might be a wee bit early, but a cull is a cull and you could certainly go ahead and process cull males. They'd be just about right for meat age, in my experience, as well.

I'd maybe recommend this. Start "culling" mentally right now. You already know a male here and a male there that simply aren't going to make grade. Go ahead and put a brightly colored, loose fitting zip tie on them or better, another leg band on the second leg as well. Or, another method is band on left means a loser while a band on right means a keeper, at least for now.

Another thing I noticed? Are your pullets and cockerels running together? I really like to separate out the males and females as early as I can judge their sex. Each sex will do better, but especially the pullets will do better if no males are in their pen competing for feed and space.

In my experience, it also just helps your eye seeing males with males. The cream rises to the top, visually. The lead balloons sink to the bottom visually. Cull off the bottom, as it were. Keep choosing "meat birds" off the bottom and tagging them until you're left with 3 or 4 finalist K's. Be in no rush to judgement concerning those 3 or 4 finalists. You have approximately 5 weeks before the axe will fall. By then, I suspect you'll be quite able to tag your "heir" and your "spare".

The birds show how well you've fed them and cared for them. They look extra-ordinarily nice.

edit to add: Male 21 is already a finalist. He may not make the very, very final cut, but he's not a cull at this time. Photos are very hard to capture the true nature of a bird. Nonetheless. unless #17 jumps into gear, and quickly, he's gonna taste good with noodles. The rest? time will tell.

 

[Fentress]

#15 looks nice and stout and centered up on his legs in one of the photos, but his back is not quite as wide and nice as #21.

 

[chicken pickin]

21 weeks might be a wee bit early, but a cull is a cull and you could certainly go ahead and process cull males. They'd be just about right for meat age, in my experience, as well.

I'd maybe recommend this. Start "culling" mentally right now. You already know a male here and a male there that simply aren't going to make grade. Go ahead and put a brightly colored, loose fitting zip tie on them or better, another leg band on the second leg as well. Or, another method is band on left means a loser while a band on right means a keeper, at least for now.

Another thing I noticed? Are your pullets and cockerels running together? I really like to separate out the males and females as early as I can judge their sex. Each sex will do better, but especially the pullets will do better if no males are in their pen competing for feed and space.

In my experience, it also just helps your eye seeing males with males. The cream rises to the top, visually. The lead balloons sink to the bottom visually. Cull off the bottom, as it were. Keep choosing "meat birds" off the bottom and tagging them until you're left with 3 or 4 finalist K's. Be in no rush to judgement concerning those 3 or 4 finalists. You have approximately 5 weeks before the axe will fall. By then, I suspect you'll be quite able to tag your "heir" and your "spare".

The birds show how well you've fed them and cared for them. They look extra-ordinarily nice.

edit to add: Male 21 is already a finalist. He may not make the very, very final cut, but he's not a cull at this time. Photos are very hard to capture the true nature of a bird. Nonetheless. unless #17 jumps into gear, and quickly, he's gonna taste good with noodles. The rest? time will tell.

Thank You. I appreciate your thoughts as always. And great advise about view the male with only the males, I think that will help significantly. I do like #21 as well, he is a pure Roy.

Yes the males and females are still running together unfortunately. I had meant to move all the cockerels to a bachelor pad a few weeks ago when I had emptied out a pen of other cull cockerels. Time gets away from me sometimes. It was actually on my to do list for tonight after they go to roost. I hope to see a few nice changes in the females as well once the move is done.

 

[chicken pickin]

#15 looks nice and stout and centered up on his legs in one of the photos, but his back is not quite as wide and nice as #21.

Thanks. I agree, I have been watching him and while I like his type there is something I cant pin point just yet that I don't love about him. Time will tell.

Ive never had quite a hard time evaluating cockerels before. These males are all so stunning in their own way my eye sometimes just sees a blur of barred beauty swirling around me lol and its occasionally hard to find the faults that are probably quite obvious.

I think Freds suggestion on viewing the males with males only will really help me see them better.